Nicox signs agreement with Pfizer to extend ophthalmology research

Sophia Antipolis, France-Nicox S.A. has signed an agreement with Pfizer Inc. that would extend its March 2006 collaboration for 1 year to give Pfizer the right to apply the proprietary nitric oxide-donating technology to drug discovery research in the field of ophthalmology.

This will result in Nicox receiving €3 million in research funding in March 2008 and prolongs Pfizer's option to license resulting compounds until May 2009.

The team of Nicox and Pfizer researchers have been focusing on several separate projects testing different classes of nitric oxide-donating compounds that could become treatments for major ocular diseases. The most advanced have had encouraging results for various compounds in in vitro and in vivo preclinical models of a prevalent eye disease.

"We believe Pfizer's decision to renew this agreement demonstrates its confidence in the joint research team and the potential of Nicox technology to yield new drug candidates for eye disorders," said Ennio Ongini, vice-president of research at Nicox. "Considerable progress has been made in the research programs and we are expecting that the collaboration will generate a future candidate for development in a major ocular condition."